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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29994927">what's in a name?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/meloncafe/pseuds/meloncafe'>meloncafe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stray Kids (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>3+1 type deal, M/M, seungmin’s surprisingly a brat but minho is unsurprisingly into it, that's it that's the fic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:01:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,456</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29994927</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/meloncafe/pseuds/meloncafe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Because, at the end of the day, this is entirely a pride thing and not because he particularly wants to be the object of Seungmin’s affection. That’s only incidental (and totally negligible. Remember: Minho doesn’t care) to his actual goal of being the best.</p><p>The One True Minho.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kim Seungmin/Lee Minho | Lee Know</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>274</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>what's in a name?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>
  <span class="small">- hello 2min community<br/>- this was supposed to be shorter but then minho started Yearning<br/>- also can u tell that this entire fic was born out of that one fucking <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-Ai2VNqrjc&amp;t=2443s&amp;ab_channel=KBSWORLDTV">we k-pop clip</a>, otherwise known as mino and seungmin’s don’t be shy game.<br/>- this is also painfully underedited because sometimes god stays in heaven because she too lives in fear of what she’s created</span>
</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Here’s the thing: Minho doesn’t care. Not even a tiny bit. Unable to be observed beneath one of those high-powered microscopes found only inside of top-rated research facilities across the world, with a magnification level of five million because they were built to capture subatomic particles - <em>that’s</em> how much Minho doesn’t care.</p><p>In fact, he cares about it so little, he actually spends the rest of the day thinking about it, because it doesn’t matter. It’s insignificant.</p><p>Meanwhile, Jisung casts nervous glances from across the room, his initial glee in reporting the rumour transforming into something slightly unsettled when a dark cloud forms over Minho’s face, courtesy of one Hwang Hyunjin.</p><p>
  <em>(“According to Jeongin, Seungmin likes you!” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Which is when Hyunjin decides to butt in. “No, Innie said the guy who Seungmin likes is named Minho, but that there are a few possibilities as to which one. And taking into account how many Minhos there are on campus, there’s like a 0.5% chance it’s actually you.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It is times like these that Minho truly appreciates his foresight in always keeping a fully-stocked box of tissues within reach because all it takes is a one centimeter pivot towards the Kleenex to send Hyunjin running for the hills.)</em>
</p><p>So anyways yeah, Minho doesn’t care.</p><p>He doesn’t even <em>like</em> Seungmin. He actually finds the younger <em>annoying</em>.</p><p>Granted, not as much as Minho likes to pretend to in public because Seungmin is objectively the least annoying person of everyone in Minho’s immediate friend group, but Seungmin is still annoying nonetheless. Everything from his fluffy hair to his big, brown eyes to the way he sings Minho’s name in conjunction with a bunch of other nonsense lyrics, affectionate and teasing all at once, is annoying.</p><p>Minho is <em>annoyed</em> by him.</p><p>And incredibly annoyed by this situation where he’s unsure if he’s the favorite Minho in Seungmin’s life.</p><p>Because, at the end of the day, this is entirely a pride thing and not because he particularly wants to be the object of Seungmin’s affection. That’s only incidental (and totally negligible. Remember: Minho doesn’t care) to his actual goal of being the best.</p><p>The One True Minho.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>1. Lee Minho (1987)</strong>
</p><p>Despite running in similar social circles, Minho doesn’t actually meet Seungmin until he’s tasked with TA’ing an introductory geology seminar and the younger ends up taking the class as an elective credit for his environmental studies major.</p><p>The job is more of a pain than anything but Minho does it as a favor to his professor, who wrote him a really nice letter of recommendation to secure a sweet summer internship, plus the additional stipend helps pay for housing in nicer digs than he could otherwise afford. Thus, Minho reluctantly shows up to lectures and holds office hours twice a week, even though he could care less about rocks or the metaphorical ones that take the class.</p><p>Seungmin is, admittedly, different from the rest of the brood that dampens his Tuesday mornings just by virtue of the fact that he is actually awake. Theirs is that unfortunate class that starts at 7:45 in the morning and despite the way Minho is an early riser by nature, even he draws the line at a personal 6 AM wake-up call in order to catch the bus to campus on time.</p><p>So to a certain extent, Minho admires Seungmin’s attentiveness and the way he’s almost punctual to a fault, sitting somewhere towards the front left of the class where all the tryhards who like to pretend that they’re not tryhards generally sit, back straight and fully prepared to start the day. Afterwards, the underclassman even sticks around for a few minutes to ask questions of their professor, further expounding upon the emplacement of plutons or steps in the development of the Insular Super Terrane.</p><p>Rarely does Seungmin pull anyone else into these conversations, entire moissanites in his eyes as he picks the tall, handsome man’s brains. Minho, meanwhile, hovers somewhere along the edges, unable to leave because he and Professor Lee usually debrief and go over lesson plans over lunch.</p><p>Minho dislikes being ignored, even though he prefers for people to leave him alone altogether. But it’s the lack of choice and the involuntary manner in which Seungmin holds him in the outskirts of his consciousness that nettles and provokes, weathered by the occasional glance when Minho sighs loudly enough or expresses his impatience too obviously.</p><p>At a certain point, it becomes clear that Seungmin is doing this on purpose. But to what end?</p><p>Minho decides he doesn’t care (the first of many times he’ll come to this conclusion over the course of their reluctantly-formed acquaintanceship).</p><p>Yet despite the way the younger clearly admires Professor Lee and looks at him like he formed the stars and can move tectonic plates at will, it is <em>Minho’s</em> office hours that Seungmin haunts with the diligence he dedicates to all things at least once a week. Sometimes twice, depending on if he manages to come up with more inane questions to ask in between the scheduled Wednesday and Friday blocks.</p><p>Minho complains. “How come you can hold PhD-level discourse with Professor Lee after class, but always come to me with some stupid shit like ‘What is a mineral?’ every week?”</p><p>Seungmin grins, innocently as if butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, and waves off Minho’s grumbling with a, “It’s explicitly stated in the syllabus that there is no such thing as a stupid question.”</p><p>“And yet you always manage to come in here and ask me multiple of them at a time.”</p><p>The taller boy settles on an unoccupied space atop Minho’s desk instead of the two perfectly functional office chairs provided. It’s come to a point where Minho forms the habit of leaving a space unoccupied in the first place because he figures it’s easier to preemptively work around Seungmin’s ass instead of shuffling papers around and misplacing assignments in the aftermath. In any case, this is what his perfectly sound and irrefutable logic dictates and not as a function of Minho secretly wanting to encourage this kind of behavior. Seungmin is far from being a minx and Minho is centuries away from being tempted.</p><p>“You complain and complain, but end up explaining it to me nicely anyways,” the brunette responds.</p><p>“It’s my job.”</p><p>“You’ve kicked people out your office hours for less.”</p><p>It’s true - Minho has little patience for things easily answered with a quick Naver search or by skimming through the provided PowerPoint slides he painstakingly compiles and sends out after class. But he makes an exception for Seungmin. “Because Professor Lee’s always up my ass about being nicer to his favorite, most cherished protégé. Even though <em>you’re</em> the one who insists on wasting my time.”</p><p>“Better yours than Professor Minho’s.” Seungmin has never been subtle about being on a first-name basis with the older faculty member, making it a point to emphasize the syllables with overexaggerated enunciation. His lips curl into a puckered ‘O’ on the last vowel and lets it linger for a while, taunting.</p><p>“Brat," he says.</p><p>“Geezer," the younger returns.</p><p>“Yah, Kim Seungmin!”</p><p>“Yes, Minho-<em>hyung</em>?”</p><p>There it is - that same puckered ‘O’ bursting like a soap bubble to form around the fondly-used honorific.</p><p>His eyes flicker down to Seungmin’s lips once again.</p><p>It takes a second for Minho to snap out of his trance; doesn’t even bother checking the time before he growls out a rough, “Office hours are over. Get out of my face” in the hopes of manifesting it to be true.</p><p>Not that it really matters. Seungmin shrugs before scooping his backpack off the floor, hitching one strap over his shoulder, and jumping gracefully to his feet. He pauses in the doorway on his way to his class, turning to ask, “Are you still going to Channie-hyung’s birthday dinner tonight?” with an inscrutable stare.</p><p>Outside of school work, Minho is determined to never give him a straight answer. Just raises an eyebrow and responds with a cryptic, “I guess you’ll find out.”</p><p>Unfortunately, Seungmin seems to be fluent in the frustratingly vague variation of Minho’s Korean because he only grins and says “See you there then, hyung!” as the strong lines of shoulder blades disappear down the hall.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>2. Choi Minho (1991)</strong>
</p><p>The title of Campus Heartthrob has gone to the same man for the past eight years in a row, first awarded during his freshman year of college and continuing all the way through post-grad, when he decided to open up a coffee shop in the larger of the two student unions on campus. The is the same coffee shop that Seungmin is hired on as a barista and subsequently spends four out of the seven days of the week working at.</p><p>Anyways, the honor could not go to a more deserving man. Choi Minho is the definition of handsome with a good personality to boot. The kind of man who smiles in such a lucid way that it makes people want to believe in the lofty ideals of justice and perhaps someday achieving world peace.</p><p>In other words:</p><p>“Dude. Seungmin’s boss is hot,” Jisung sprays through a mouthful of cake.</p><p>Minho pointedly flicks a few of the biggest crumbs that land on the table back into Jisung’s lap before languidly turning his attention to the hot man in question. The café owner is working the register as he patiently explains to Seungmin the ins and outs of mobile orders, the two of them chatting and laughing over something that Minho can’t make out from this distance.</p><p>The lunch rush is over so all that’s left to do is attend to the irregular trickle of customers coming in and the caffeine-dependent students who have hunkered down until dinner and/or closing time, whichever comes first. Minho is one such student, currently working against the clock for a geophysics report due at midnight and that he had put off in order to prioritize other things like his upcoming dance recital and a few hours of sleep a night. Although the longer he sits and tries to make sense of his lab results, the more Minho wishes he had sacrificed sleep.</p><p>Hyunjin agrees. “But Seungminnie’s hotter.”</p><p>“So says the #1 purveyor of the Seungmin Hot Agenda.”</p><p>“And proud of it!” Hyunjin thumps his chest, deep-seated in his inability to shut the fuck up about his best friend at any given moment. He also straddles some irrational line of being convinced that Minho holds a certain regard for his beloved Kim Seungmin and determined to keep the two of them apart (“No offense hyung, but no one is good enough for my Minnie, not even you. Actually, on second thought, <em>especially</em> you. Because I don’t get you at all!”)</p><p>There is nothing to get.</p><p>Minho does not like Seungmin. Or rather, Minho likes Seungmin a normal amount. On par with Changbin but still below Bang Chan, because as vehemently as he might deny it most days, he and Seungmin <em>are</em> kind of friends. He finds the younger’s company, quirks, and sense of humor passably entertaining, at least.</p><p>Like right now, when Seungmin stands and zones out with both hands on his hips, the very picture of a pregnant lady experiencing second trimester back pain while looking out at her surroundings.</p><p><em>Cute, </em>he thinks (involuntarily, of course).</p><p>“Hyung, you’re staring,” Jisung points out.</p><p>“I’m not staring. Seungmin walked into my line of vision. Clearly, he’s the one at fault.”</p><p>The younger boy rolls his eyes. “Why can’t you just pine like a normal person?”</p><p>“Because Minho-hyung isn’t normal.”</p><p>“And I’m also not pining.”</p><p>Cue the two of them rolling their eyes.</p><p>Minho doesn’t feel the need to explain himself any further; they can believe what they want to believe because in his heart of hearts, Minho knows what he feels and what he feels is nothing.</p><p>Well, tangential to nothing.</p><p>He doesn’t know how to put a name to the swooping sensation he experiences in those moments when Seungmin first appears out of nowhere and catches Minho off-guard, the feeling that starts low in his belly and swings all the way up through his chest, lodges itself in his throat and cloys all five of his senses; a temporary paralysis that Minho can only blink away, fleeting enough for nobody else to clock.</p><p>Except for maybe Seungmin, who always looks at Minho with a little too much significance - an inexplicable Knowing - to not know exactly the effect he has on his begrudging friend and TA.</p><p>It’s that same look he gives when Minho turns in a job application the very next day.</p><p>“For the money,” he says.</p><p>“I’ll be sure pass this along to Manager Choi right away.”</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>3. Song Minho/Mino (1993)</strong>
</p><p>It happens on an innocuous Friday afternoon: Kim Seungmin finally goes viral on the internet.</p><p>Not on account of anything intrinsically-linked, lost in all of this being the acknowledgement of his thoughtful intellect, kindness towards others, and the single-minded determination he applies towards achieving his goals. No, Seungmin goes viral on account of the fact that he is devastatingly cute and also occupying space next to Song Minho.</p><p>The caption ‘My precious Seungminnie ❤’ does not lend itself to subtlety either.</p><p>Minho glares at the offending image of the pair in matching lab coats and goggles, the older wrapping his arms around Seungmin in an approximation of a back hug as their joined hands pour out the contents of a test tube into an Erlenmeyer Flask. At first glance, it looks like one of those cringey stock photos that get passed around as memes only this particular one has garnered hundreds of thousands of likes on Instagram and is being shared across other platforms writ large.</p><p>The comments are all different variations of ‘new boyfriend????’ and ‘how cute ㅋㅋㅋ’</p><p>Hyunjin is currently crying into the living room carpet, devastated for good reason because Song Minho is the graduate student in charge of the research lab Seungmin works in and also probably the coolest person Minho has ever known and/or heard about in passing. Even 3RACHA recognize and acknowledge the sheer amount of Rad that Mino possesses, moonlighting as a PhD candidate by day and a not so underground rapper at night. Minho constantly hears rumours about the astronomical number of record labels trying to sign the guy, entirely plausible given his social media following and streaming numbers on Soundcloud alone.</p><p>“Is this it?” Hyunjin asks. “Is this the Minho Innie was referring to when he was talking about Minnie’s crush?”</p><p>The final nail in the coffin is Seungmin’s accompanying post, a selca of them wearing matching lip tints except Seungmin’s is suspiciously more faded and messily applied.</p><p>“This is the worst day of my life,” Hyunjin wails - or, at least, that’s what Minho interprets from the unintelligible and garbled sobbing noises he’s generating throughout the apartment.</p><p>Minho is similarly annoyed but for unspecified reasons and definitely doesn’t take it out on Jisung, who is lying in Minho’s lap and in danger of having all of his hair pulled out on accident. “Ouch! Hyung! Be gentle!”</p><p>He quickly disentangles his fingers from Jisung’s oversensitized scalp. “Sorry Hannie. I got distracted.”</p><p>“I can’t imagine over what.” The younger looks up at Minho with an expression that is equal parts shit-eating and much too sympathetic.</p><p>He’s about to purposefully render Jisung bald when Seungmin walks through the door, remnants of color still visible in the lines of his lips.</p><p>“Why is Hyunjin crying?”</p><p>“WELCOME HOME, CHEATER.”</p><p>“Ignore him,” Jisung advises. “He’s throwing a fit because of your little Instagram stunt today.”</p><p>Seungmin shrugs off his padded jacket and shakes the snowflakes from his hair. Minho resists the urge to get up and push back the overgrown bangs that hang damp and loose over his eyes. “Oh that? It was just a joke, Jinnie. Don’t worry about it.”</p><p>“A joke?” Hyunjin sniffles. “I lost ten years off my lifespan over <em>a joke</em>?”</p><p>“Whose idea was it to play gay internet chicken, anyways?” Minho tries to lilt his voice in mimicry of something approaching playful, except it comes out weird and stilted, with hints of irritation seeping through.</p><p>It does not escape Seungmin’s notice as he moves to comfort Hyunjin on the ground, sitting criss-cross applesauce to deliver soothing patting motions to his head. The blonde leans into the touch, already appeased. Forgiven and forgotten just as easily as that. Now Minho will look petty if he continues pressing the issue.</p><p>“We had a pretty long waiting period in between the different trial runs, so Mino-hyung thought it would be fun to mess around with his fans.”</p><p>It is the way that Seungmin is watching him, too carefully as if waiting for the other shoe to drop, that further spurs Minho on.</p><p>Despite his better judgement, Minho ends up pressing the issue. “Well, if Mino-hyung thinks it’s fun.”</p><p>He stands up and almost sends Jisung sprawling to the ground. He’ll apologize for it later, but right now, Minho finds himself desperately needing to go.</p><p>“In any case,” he says and it sounds like a gunshot in the dark. “I’m headed to the studio. Please hesitate to reach out to me.”</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>+1. Lee Minho (1998)</strong>
</p><p>So yeah, Minho still doesn’t care.</p><p>Sure, he’s lying in a pool of his own sweat after dancing off the excesses of his annoyance, but it’s not because he <em>cares</em>.</p><p>He’s not some sore loser who doesn’t know how to graciously accept defeat. He acknowledges the fact that Song Minho is the objectively better choice. So much better that even <em>Minho</em> would choose Mino.</p><p>But still . . .</p><p>. . . but still . . .</p><p>It takes him a while to recognize that the heaviness in his heart is not the product of fatigue, but of crushing disappointment.</p><p>Which makes a lot of sense, actually. Now that the initial sting of loss has come and gone, Minho can admit this to himself: he is disappointed in this outcome.</p><p>(Although the notion of disappointment implies the existence of hope.</p><p>Somewhere along the way, Minho had developed hope that he was the Minho Seungmin was crushing on. Somewhere along the way, he had cared after all, if only a little and for some infinitesimal measure of time.)</p><p>But now he’s back to not caring. Because it doesn’t matter.</p><p>Minho will get over it - over Seungmin.</p><p>
  <em>“Mino-hyung thought it would be fun.”</em>
</p><p>This off-handedly delivered phrase feels like closure. The kind that exerts an iron grip over his lungs instead of the one that everyone claims will set him free.</p><p>Seungmin has a lot of Minho’s in life, but he used to be the only one close enough to be considered a hyung. Minho's singular advantage, a familiarity the others did not possess, come and gone in the blink of an eye. A bitter pill he struggles to choke down.</p><p>Wallowing, Minho almost misses the opening click of the door, the <em>whoosh!</em> of the air conditioning from the hallway rushing in.</p><p>He hears Seungmin’s voice.</p><p>“You don’t get to sulk like this when I ask to take pictures with you all the time and instead of posing nicely, you’re either making some silly face or outright refusing me altogether.”</p><p>“Who says I’m sulking?”</p><p>There’s a scoff preceding the brunette’s response. “You, obviously. Your body language. The way you stormed out of my apartment earlier today. You’re sulking, admit it.”</p><p>As expected, Seungmin is fluent in reading between the lines of all that comprises one Lee Minho.</p><p>Acutely, he feels the warmth of Seungmin’s body as he settles beside Minho on the floor; hears the rustling of fabric as he lays down horizontally next to him as well. “You stink.”</p><p>“Shut up.”</p><p>“Make me.”</p><p>“You’re annoying.”</p><p>“You like me anyways.”</p><p>“...”</p><p>“Hyung?”</p><p>There's a ringing in his ears. Or maybe it's the blood rushing swiftly to his head; Minho's heartbeat pounding away.</p><p>“...”</p><p>“Hyung.”</p><p>“...Who told you I like you?”</p><p>He won’t look over, but can picture Seungmin rolling his eyes. Exasperated yet fond. Always always <em>always</em> fond.</p><p>“No one had to tell me. I just know. Just like I know you’re going to deny it now, and on our wedding day, and for our 50-year anniversary, and on your deathbed as well. You’ll deny it until you’re blue in the face. But it’s okay, Minho-hyung, because I like you anyway.”</p><p>“...”</p><p>“Hyung?”</p><p>“...I would say it on our wedding day. Probably.”</p><p>“It’s fine. I’ll say it enough for the both of us.”</p><p>“It’s just embarrassing to say aloud!”</p><p>Seungmin shifts to tug the lobe of an ear, hot and reddening even brighter by the second. “Your ears are loud enough as it is.”</p><p>“Shut up.”</p><p>“Make me.”</p><p>Minho does.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <span class="small">moi? writing something other than seungjin? more likely than you think! </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="small">(even though there’s definitely some seungjin smuggled in here. listen, i’m only human okay?????)</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="small"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/stansmola">twt</a> </span>
</p></blockquote></div></div>
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